We are currently postponing this weekend's ghost tours for family reasons. We will be back in the office from next Tuesday 17th January. Everyone holding either tickets or are redeeming gift certificates will be receiving gift certificates, dated from this weekend, valid for 18 months, for twice the number of people paid for, as our way of making up for any inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.

We made page 4 of the Mosman Daily today!

We are very chuffed to see that we have been featured in the Mosman Daily and the Daily Telegraph today, and want to thank them for including us in their story. Originally we were approached for an opinion on the lamp posts that kept coming down in the cemetery. A bit tongue in cheek, we supplied them with this photo of a ghost hanging on to a lamp post, for illustrative purposes only....Which somehow got lost in translation when they wrote the story!

A special effects shot provided to the Mosman Daily, as a tongue in cheek reason the lamp posts were coming down in the cemetery...!

What they ended up running as the story, ended up being what dogs tend to do in the St Thomas cemetery after it rains. They regularly dig and eat the soil. The reasons for this a fairly simple. Dogs have a hugely more sensitive nose than we do - it is their primary sense of experiencing the world, closely followed by their hearing. Between a third and a half of their brain is devoted to their sense of smell. Nearly every burial plot in St Thomas cemetery has more than one person in it - which means the second coffin, placed on top of the first, is only two feet or less ( 61 cm) from the surface. As water goes down into the ground, it permeates what is going on underneath. When it evaporates, traces of those chemicals can be smelled by dogs - and in the last vestiges of wolf DNA in their bodies, they recognise that smell as being associated with food. Hence, they regularly dig at, and eat the soil.

The Mosman Daily spoke with a local vet, who dismissed the idea that dogs could smell something that had been in the ground that long. This has caused a very interesting response from a lot of people who read todays article. I have received 18 telephone calls in the last two hours from people who live in the local area, who have observed their own dogs doing this over a period of years - and they are digging a bit too far to just be looking for rabbit or possum scats as pro-biotics . (If you ever needed any better reason than just common sense, not to tongue kiss with your dog.....!)

However, expecting a local vet to be across everything involving dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, birds, snakes and every other kind of animal is a very tall order - so it isn't a big stretch to simply say that she just wasn't aware of what forensic investigators and archaeologists are currently using cadaver dogs to find.

Currently, there is an archeologist in South Australia who is using a trained Labrador dog to find aboriginal remains up to 700 years old. In the USA, cadaver dogs are regularly used to locate civil war graves in the eastern states such as Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, companies such as Bigman Geophysical regularly use cadaver dogs to find civil war graves, ( 150 years old) and even revolutionary war graves ( 200 years plus old). The strike rate that they have of dogs alerting, to proven, found graves confirmed by a ground penetrating radar, was 85%!

However - the bottom line is that experts in the field, such as Steve Austin, the man who trains the Beagles for the Australian Quarantine Service, The NSW Police Dog squad, and many other experts here in Australia, can vouch for the fact that Dogs can smell things in the ground much older than 60 years old.

I want to thank all of the people who have rung, called and emailed today - and Hera the Ghost Guard dog and I look forward to seeing you on a tour with us, soon!

One of the choices for William the Weimaraner's 2013 Halloween costume

William the Weimaraner dog, AKA “The Grey Ghost”, is the company mascot of Sydney Ghost Tours, who are now searching for his 2013 Halloween costumeLocal historian, and leading Sydney paranormal expert Daniel Phillips, said with a grin “This part of Sydney is famous for loving dogs like children – dressing William up for Halloween is just an extension of that!” Mr Phillips, founder of Sydney Ghost Tours, runs history tours and ghost tours on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, with his trusty sidekick, William the Weimaraner dog, AKA “ The Grey Ghost”.“There are so many incredibly funny Halloween costumes that people dress their dogs up in, that we have difficulty picking one for William to wear each year. So this year, we have decided to put it to a public vote” he said.Sydney Ghost Tours have put up a choice of 31 different doggy Halloween costumes on their FaceBook page. William the Weimaraner’s many fans are being asked to like the Sydney Ghost Tours page on FaceBook, and vote for their favourite costume by hitting ‘like’ on their favourite photo. One of these voters will be selected at random, to receive a Ghost Tour Gift certificate for 6 adults to come along on any of their ghost tours, worth $240.00

Mr Phillips said “Halloween is always one of our favourite times of year. Part of that is that we get to celebrate, be a little bit crazy, and have a really good belly laugh. We are pretty sure anyone who likes our Facebook page, checks out those doggy Halloween costumes, and votes on one, is going to have one of the best belly laughs they will have had all day!”

I get a lot of people who come on my ghost tours who talk about either places that they have lived, or that they currently live, who experience shadowy figures in their home, unexplained noises, smells and other things that just plain old "don't make sense".

In my previous posts I talk about eliminating all of the obvious things that could create these problems. However once you have determined that you have some other worldly visitors or previous residents - what can you do about it?

The first thing to keep in mind when talking about anything paranormal or spiritual, is Einstein's E+ mc squared equation - EVERYTHING is energy, that is changing form from one into another. The second thing to remember is that "like attracts like" energy.

Flowing energy tends to attract higher energies. Think of a stream of fresh clean water, bubbling down a hill. Imagine looking through the clear water, the sound of the bubbling flow of it, the smell of this pleasantly fills your nostrils, and the gentle tingle of the coolness of it as you start filling your hands. As you start drinking that water from your hands, remember how refreshed and alive that makes you feel.

When energy slows down or becomes stagnant, it attracts lower energies, in the same way that a still pool of water tends to become oxygen poor and bacteria rich - like a billabong choked with weeds, or an abandoned swimming pool.

Things, people, events and emotions all have different kinds of energy that they resonate with, and are compatible with. If you tap a tuning fork against something so that it rings, anything with a sympathetic resonance will vibrate to the same sound, for example

So if we have an issue with problems created through lower energies like poltergeists or other malevolent phenomena, the key to giving this the boot is going to be:

raising your personal energy,

and changing the energy properties of your home, to make it no longer compatible with your unwelcome guests.

Fear is the mind killer - and is food for ghouls

In this case, the closest energy to paranormal energies and spiritual energy is emotional energy. Ironically, when spirits move from place to place, they are not checking out the paint colour, or your taste in floor tiles - they are checking out the emotional energy in your home. If your home has an energy field that is compatible with them, it is effectively an open invitation.

Negative energy is a heavier and slower vibrating energy. You have probably already experienced this kind of feeling in your own body when you are angry or upset. Conversely, when you feel happy, you have also felt lighter.

Dark energy tends to gather in closed, stagnant, dusty spaces, dark spaces and clutter. It feeds on anger, upset, depression, discord, angry words and violent movies. When these things are in abundance, it is like putting cheese out to attract mice. Then, it becomes "let the games begin" !The third thing to keep in mind is: Your intent creates your experience

More than any other factor, this is the most important lesson, not just in dealing with the paranormal, but in life itself. In a way, you are a kind of incredibly powerful tuning fork that sends energy out like a TV transmission tower, making everything around you, and far beyond, vibrate. Unlike a tuning fork, however, you have the ability to choose what frequency you are going to vibrate at. So you can choose to attract something different, simply by choosing to consistently be in harmony with what you want, through your thoughts, your feelings, what you believe, and the vital last step - taking action.

Like any neglected backyard swimming pool, negative energy needs to be drained out and cleared out, then filled with a clean, flowing, filtered and maintained replacement energy. We need to raise the vibration of the place by establishing positive energy flow.

However, acknowledging how the place became what it currently is, and taking responsibility for that, is the starting point.

Once you acknowledge you created something and you can own it, preferably without emotion, blame or guilt - you now have the power to change it. As I think I mentioned earlier, to change this situation there are two kinds of spring cleaning that will need to take place. One will be in your home, and the other will be between your ears...let me explain, because that is not a personal insult, judgment or criticism in any way. It is part of how we grow, to experience how the energy we project, brings the things we do and do not want into our lives, in an environment where that process is not instant, here in the physical world . Put simply, if you do one without the other, the situation will tend to go back to it's original state, like a stretched rubber band. Doing both at the same time will reinforce the improving of your environment, how you feel, and make the change more permanent .

You are not a body having a spiritual experience - you are a spirit having a human experience.

When people are having interactions they believe are paranormal, one of the first things that they tend to forget is that they have a much bigger impact on the things, people and places around them than they think they do. In short - You are bigger, and more powerful than you think you are.

Many people have heard the idea of being " A child of god" and of God making humans in his own image - and miss a huge underlying point. Part of you IS God, and you have a power to create from thought and intention, in the here and now. You have a direct connection to what some would call 'a higher power'. That isn't a woo-woo, new age, namby-pamby religious statement - it is simply a statement of fact.Regardless of what you choose to call the animated energy that all things have ( Life force, the force, Creation, God, Judah, Yaweh, Allah, or Great Spirit...) - we are all a part of it.The way that Native Americans use to explain the idea, is to think of an ocean. The water evaporates, becomes rain or snow, and eventually returns to the source. Each rain drop might be seen as separate but all water is connected. It is only our own illusion which sees ourselves as separate from all other life, and therefore separate from the great Spirit, or God.Once we 'get it' that there is absolutely no way to be separate from this, we can turn up our vibration, by "tapping in" to a larger energy source. This is almost like going from running on your own batteries, to plugging into a mains wall socket. Now, the energy we have to work with is no longer just“our” energy, it is energy without limits.

This is how “ energy healers” heal; it is “God” flowing through. When you ground yourself, which is to bring your focused attention to this one moment, (as in a “be here, right now” experience,) and open your heart to that connection, with that life force energy, your own energy field becomes brighter and bigger. Clearing your spaceNow we going to talk about what the church would call "Exorcism" or an aboriginal elder would call 'bad spirit cleansing". However, there are few things we need to talk about here. Unlike in the movies, malevolent energies cannot hurt you here in the physical world unless you let them. As a rule of thumb, these energies do not have the power to create, however they do have the ability to influence or manipulate.

If are not completely congruent in your own belief in your own safety, your own authority, or your own ability to control the situation, your effectiveness in evicting these unwelcome energies will be compromised. Under these circumstances, particularly in the situation of dealing with poltergeists, that are spirits that can affect physical objects in a less than pleasant way, outsourcing the job to an "expert" may be a darn good idea.

The Phillips definition of "expert" comes from the roots of the word " ex" which means " probably never was, but certainly is no longer" and the word " spurt" which means " moving motion of a drip of water, under pressure"!. Most of the "Ghost hunters" and "Paranormal investigators" I have come across seem to fit this description of "expert".

Remember our talking about negative emotional energy helping create the situation earlier? More negative energy for a poltergeist is like putting out cheese for mice and rats. Negative energy in your home will not be cleared, by a bunch of people giving themselves an adrenaline rush by muscling down their own fear... Nor will running around chasing ghosts with EMF meters, infrared goggles and video cameras, shouting taunts at them. That makes about as much sense as smoking near a refuelling aircraft being filled with 110 octane petrol.

The kind of person that will be effective is someone who can hold their own sacred space and energy with absolute conviction. This kind of expert has experience in separating their own thoughts from the thoughts of others that they can feel. They have practice in sensing energy, seeing it, reading it and its movement, and re-energising a space. Nature abhors a vacuum - so once negative energy has been moved out, it has to be consciously replaced.

Choose someone who fits with your own belief system, whether they are a Feng Shui master, Aboriginal Elder, Parish Priest, Wizard or Witch, Shaman, Sheikh, or whatever floats your boat. Just check your expert's bona fides, and use your own common sense. It isn't exactly a profession that has it's own standards, government regulations, professional guilds or guarantees. Group clearings or exorcisms are pretty simple in theory. Clear, focused attention being maintained by the group doing it is the challenging part. Essentially you need seven or so adults gathered who understand how to be grounded and maintain focus. When you are all ready, you combine your energies to work as a team.Normally one person leads the ceremony, depending on the belief system. Usually it will be some kind of guided meditation where higher power help is called on to assist the group. Once the celestial cavalry has been called and the group feels ready, the group moves through the house telling the others to leave. Usually you will be reinforcing a higher level of energy through tools like incense, bells, clapping, chant, song, tuning bowls or forks... and so on. Each room is blessed, and each window and door sealed. One person will be the voice and leader. Your actual ceremony may vary depending on your belief system but most will begin with some kind of guided meditation or visualization where the group unites energies and calls in guides, angels, ancestors, etc… to assist the party. Once the strength of unity is accomplished the party moves through the house telling the “others” to leave and reinforcing positive energy through tools such as incense; song, toning or chant; drumming, singing bowls, etc… Each room is blessed, each doorway and window sealed.Your ghost busting tool kitRemember our talk about vibration. Everything carries an energy imprint. Different incenses carry different energies; the clearing plants and resins include:

white sage,

sweet grass,

nag champa,

dragon’s blood (a resin)

and copal.

Plants and resins which raise vibration include frankincense, sandalwood, pinon, cedar and rose. Sounds which raise vibration can be achieved with tuning forks, bells or singing bowls; clapping or drumming as long as the focused intent is in connecting to spirit. There is a whole swag of music written specifically for the purpose of energy clearing - google it! :-DCrystals also have vibration. For example:

amethyst raises spiritual energy and is easy to work with.

Quartz amplifies energy, so if you use it make sure you pair it with another crystal such as amethyst.

Rose quartz is very healing but is softer and works better on people than in spaces.

Burning as a method of energy clearing

Fill a large fireproof bowl with Epsom salts and cover the salt with Rubbing Alcohol, then set the bowl in the middle of a room. Light the alcohol and let it burn until the contents are used up and it goes out naturally.

The bowl will get VERY HOT so take proper precautions!

The use of fire has long been used for space clearing; negative energies are pulled into the fire and purified. Hold the intention for all negative energy and unwanted entities to be cleansed from your home.

Haunting. An often taboo subject people won't discuss from fear of ridicule or embarrassment. Yet many people have experienced lights flickering, doors slamming, or creaking floorboards in the early hours, for no apparent reason

Leading Sydney Paranormal expert and ghost tour guide Daniel Phillips said many people worried their homes were haunted.

“Believing a house is haunted can cause all kinds of stress, not to mention decreasing your property’s value” said Mr Phillips

“Many people, laying in their beds often suspect ghostly activity, as these experiences can be so creepy. Every sound, shadow, creak and groan can feel like a ghost is haunting your house” He said

“But most Ghosts are simply people without bodies”

These are some of the things that can indicate that your home might be haunted:

Unexplained noises - .

Doors, cabinets and cupboards opening and closing -

Lights turning off and on - s.

Items disappearing and reappearing - .

Unexplained shadows - the sighting of fleeting shapes and shadows, usually seen out of the corner of the eye.

Strange animal behavior - a dog, cat or other pet starts to behave strangely. Dogs may bark at something unseen, cower without apparent reason, or refuse to enter a room . Cats may seem to be "watching" something cross a room. Animals have sharper senses than humans, and some believe their psychic abilities are more refined / less filtered by the opinions of others, than humans.

Feelings of being watched -

Mild psychokinetic phenomena - hearing a door open or close is one thing. Actually seeing it happen is quite another. Doors and windows are locked or unlocked. Some people report that when they are in bed they can feel and/or hear something sitting on the bed.

Feelings of being touched - the feeling of being watched is one thing. Actually feeling like you are being touched is quite another. Some people report feeling something brush past them, touching their hair or "a hand" on the shoulder. Some feel a gentle poke, push or nudge.

Cries and whispers - sometimes muffled voices, whispering and crying can be heard. Hearing music from some unknown source. People hear their names being said. This phenomenon, as is true for being touched, gains more credibility if more than one person experiences the same thing at the same time.

Cold or hot spots - cold spots are classic haunting symptoms. Any instance of a noticeable variance in temperature without an identifiable cause, could be evidence.

Unexplained smells - the distinct fragrance of a perfume or cologne that you do not have in your house. This phenomenon comes and goes without any apparent cause and may accompany other phenomena, such as shadows, voices or psychokinetic phenomena. Foul odors can happen in the same way. Tarella, the mansion on our Lower North Shore Ghost tour, is famous for the smells of expensive cigars, and very elaborate french cooking coming out of the building in the early hours of the morning, when no one is on the premises and the alarm is turned on...

Other physical evidence - unexplained writing on paper or walls; handprints and footprints.

Apparitions - physical manifestation of a spirit or entity. These phenomena are also very rare and can take many forms: human-shaped mists or forming mists of some indistinguishable shape; transparent human forms that disappear quickly; and most rarely, human forms that look as real and solid as any living person, but that disappear into a room or even while being viewed.

Mr Phillips said if you suspect your home has a resident ghost, you should do the following

1. “Start ruling out all of the logical things first”. In many inner suburbs of places like Sydney Australia, electrical wiring in some houses, can be over 100 years old. Drafts could be moving windows and doors. Floorboards and stairs can creak, when the temperature and humidity change. “Most of the time, something like a family of possums taking residence in the roof will be the culprit” he said. " A haunting is a very rare thing, so don't be in a hurry to assume that is the case, without some serious checking first."

2. “If something strange keeps happening in your home that defies rational explaination, keep a diary and record what, when and where it happens. Something that on its own does not seem to make sense may become obvious if a time pattern takes place”. Like when your next neighbour’s tom cat is put out at night, and he is taking a short cut to visit his girlfriend, for example. “ These two steps alone should rule out about 98% of any potential concerns,”

3. After ruling out all of the logical, rational explanations, it is time to do some research. Talk to the previous owners or long term neighbours. Check the internet and make a date in the local history section of your library. There may be a history associated with your home, which the real estate agent selling it to you, may have conveniently forgotten to mention.

4. “If you have not yet solved the puzzle yet, it is time to record what is going on with cameras and sound equipment”. Having a record of what is happening will help you or an expert get to the bottom of it in the light of day. If you need to go to this length, you may want to check out this page on paranormal investigations, as there are tips on what equipment you will need, and how to use them effectively. Look also at our page "What is a ghost?" for more information

5. If you still have not found an earthly explaination yet, and still suspect a ghostly presence, now based on experience and evidence – make friends with it!“ Ghosts are just people without bodies. If you treat them that way with a positive attitude, they cannot and will not hurt you. More importantly, though, by accepting that you have a really interesting home, this will allow you to have peace of mind.”

Ghosts, with thousands of reports of the paranormal, from all over the world, leave little doubt that haunting experiences are quite real. Yet, what causes them and why?

Like our photo to the left here, you may have seen them depicted in movies, read stories , and seen TV shows and documentaries sensationalizing them. You could have seen the rare genuine photos of them. I'd bet you have heard of first-hand ghostly encounters from friends and relatives. I get at least 8-10 people who come on my ghost tours every month telling me about these experiences. You may have even seen a ghost yourself.

But what are ghosts? I'll give you the best answer I have: No one really knows for certain.There are, however, many more theories on this subject than you can poke a stick at. People have an over-riding need, to explain the many thousands of documented experiences, that many around the world have had since the beginning of recorded history. Ghosts and hauntings are common part of the human experience.

There are at least several types of ghosts or hauntings, so it may take more than one theory to explain them all.

"I SEE DEAD PEOPLE"

The traditional view of ghosts is of them being the spirits of dead people. For some reason, they are "stuck" between our world and the next world of spirit. This is usually because of some tragedy or trauma - or that there is some kind of issue that needs resolving before "passing over". If some TV shows, ghost hunters and psychics are to be believed, normally these earth-bound spirits don't know they are dead. Hans Holzer, a US based ghost hunter wrote, "A ghost is a human being who has passed out of the physical body, usually in a traumatic state and is not aware usually of his true condition. We are all spirits encased in a physical body. At the time of passing, our spirit body continues into the next dimension. A ghost, on the other hand, due to trauma, is stuck in our physical world and needs to be released to go on."

Known as "intelligent hauntings," it is believed that ghosts exist in a state in which they haunt the scenes of their deaths or locations that were important to them in life. These types of ghosts are able to interact with the living. They are aware of the living, and react to being seen on the occasions that they materialize. Psychics and Mediums claim to be able to communicate with them. When they do, they will typically try to help these spirits to understand that they are dead, and to move on to the next part of their journey.There have been a number encounters of this kind reported at Tarella, the haunted mansion on our Lower North Shore Ghost tour, of people who died there. They appear happy to remain on the grounds, haunting this mansion over a hundred years after their passing. Similar experiences have been reported in the old St Thomas Cemetery grounds in West Street that is also on the Lower North Shore Ghost tour.

RESIDUAL HAUNTINGS

These experiences are like spirit recordings - residual energies - that replay over and over again, like a movie film "on loop". Some ghosts appear to be recordings of parts of a person's life, that seem to replay in the environment in which they once existed. The laughter of a dead child is heard echoing in a hallway where she often played. A world war 1 soldier appears in the window of a building where they used to stand guard. A dead nurse walks the halls of a hospital, brushing through the wards on their rounds. Even cases of ghost trains and cars can still be heard and sometimes seen, even though they are long gone. These ghosts neither interact with, or seem to be aware of the living. Their actions and appearance are always the same. These experiences have been reported in Tarella, the haunted mansion on our Lower north Shore Ghost Tour, in the wards of the old sections of Royal North Shore Hospital, and in the Gore Hill memorial cemetery on our Middle North Shore Ghost Tour.

"Traumatic events in time leave a strong energy imprint on the building or area," says Daniel Phillips," "replaying themselves for eternity. This could allow an observer to get a 'glimpse of the past' - a recreation of some traumatic or emotion-laden event."

It is my belief that the Quarantine station at North Head in Sydney,the Port Arthur Prison site in Tasmania, and places like the Dachau Nazi concentration camp in Poland have literally absorbed the emotional trauma of the people who were undergoing truly awful events in these places, leading up to their deaths. I believe that people sensitive to their surroundings in that way can pick up on that information, and feel what those people must have felt, and will sometimes get a lot more information than that.

MESSENGERS

These kinds of ghosts are the most common form of Paranormal phenomena. These are the spirits of people, that appear shortly after their deaths, to people close to them in life. Unlike traditional ghosts, and residual hauntings, these ghosts are completely aware of their deaths, and interact with the living. They will normally bring words of comfort to their loved ones. Typically, they re-appear for a last time to say that they are well and happy, and not to grieve for them. They are usually motivated by love, and will briefly return for the express purpose of helping the living cope with their loss.

Sometimes, these ghosts are called "crisis apparitions." While these paranormal visits can take the form of a farewell, sometimes important and useful information is relayed - like health information, or emotional information about another family member. Though dying is the most common crisis, other life-threatening situations can also trigger this kind of ghost visit.

POLTERGEISTS

The word poltergeist comes from the German words poltern ("to make noise") and Geist ("ghost"). The term quite literally means "noisy ghost". This type of paranormal haunting is the most feared, because it has the greatest ability to affect our physical world. Poltergeists are unique paranormal phenomena, in that they have the ability to affect physical objects.

Poltergeists are blamed for unexplained noises, such as wall-banging, rapping, footsteps and even music. They are known for taking objects and hiding them, only to return them later. They turn on water taps and gas taps, are known to slam doors, turn lights on and off, and even flush toilets. They can, and are known for throwing things across rooms. They have even been known to pull people's clothing or hair. Malevolent poltergeists are known to even scratch, hit or slap the living.

It is because of these sometimes "mean-spirited" actions, that poltergeists are considered by some to be demonic in nature.

A lot of the time, though, these activities can be more accurately described as 'mischevious' - such as paranormal activity reported in Tarella, a haunted mansion in Cammeray, on the North shore of Sydney, Australia, (which is part of our Sydney Ghost tours - Lower North Shore Ghost tour ) where furniture gets re-arranged at night when no-one is in the building, and the alarm is on.

This is the kind of paranormal activity that typically result in a priest being called to a house to perform an exorcism . Although most churches tend to frown on this kind of ritual in the 21st century , nearly every culture on the planet has some form of ritual form of banishing "evil spirits" - which suggests that it is a very common human experience.

Other investigators, however, believe that poltergeist activity is not caused by ghosts at all, but by certain living people under stress. They believe that certain people have the ability to unconsciously move things with their mind when under stress - a process called "psychokinesis". While this theory is the subject of on-going research, it remains to be proven.

Talk about fantastic timing - I have been waiting for an EBay purchase to arrive for nearly a month now and had been getting anxious that it had 'gone walkabout' as Australian Aborigines would say. Just as I was about to head out the door to set up my little display for people to find William and I for the ghost tours - Australia Post has put a note in my letter box to tell me this package was waiting for me. I raced to the parcel depot like a scene from Batman leaving the Bat cave, to pick up this awesome piece of kit, and got it set up for my Valentines day Ghost tour visitors just in time... William the Weimaraner could not stop barking at this scary new gadget for about 15 minutes! :-D

Sydney Ghost Tours made page 1 of "The Mosman Daily" for our Valentines day Ghost tours!

This was our original press release below: “Picking a bone” with Valentines Day

Valentines day is a day of stress, expense, and obligation for singles and couples – and can be boring to boot!

It can be filled with un-necessary drama for even normally romantic couples. If you are single, chances you are feeling the pressure to change that. Or want to shoot yourself to get away from all of the annoying soppiness.

“Could anything be less romantic, than having to book an over rated, overpriced, over crowded restaurant weeks in advance, being stressed out to get there, and then getting hassled by photographers and flower sellers trying to put you on the spot?” asks Daniel Phillips, Leading Sydney Paranormal Expert and founder of SydneyGhostTour.Com

Singles can find themselves surrounded, by uncomfortable, over the top reminders of their temporarily un-romantic life. It can be a struggle to find something on Valentine’s day that isn’t going to make you feel guilty for not running around with a “+1”. Surprisingly, not doing the ‘traditional’ valentines routine, can work whether you are single or part of a couple…It will take your mind off all of the soppiness if you are single, and many a couple has gotten closer in the dark, when they are not sure what is about to appear. The adrenaline rush of a good fun scare,has been known to make many a date ‘warm up’ into something much more memorable!

This Valentine’s day evening Sydney Ghost Tours will reveal the often dark, and previously secret tales of love, forbidden love. lust and illicit sex that lies buried in the leafy back yards of Sydney’s Lower North Shore. “We will talk about Sydney’s most famous first aboriginal couple - Bennelong, and Barangaroo, who was a Cammeraigal woman. We will also talk about how a famous politician got away with killing his wife to marry the maid, at a haunted mansion– and much, much more. Reality is weirder than you could ever make up – and the photographs taken on our tours have had more than just our visitors show up in them! ” said Mr Phillips.

SydneyGhostTour.Com’s Valentines day tours start at the corner of Miller and Amherst Streets in Cammeray, opposite the Wild Sage restaurant, at 6.15pm, 8.15pm and 11.15pm, and are $40.00 per adult. Bookings can be made on 02 8197 0363, or on www.sydneyghosttour.com

Friday the 13th is a night when the veil between the spiritual and physical worlds is lifted.

Leading Sydney Paranormal expert Daniel Phillips, said Friday 13th is one of the most haunted days of the year.

“It is famous for being a time when the dead will often reach out to communicate with the living” said Mr Phillips

“There are more photos of ghosts, floating orbs and other paranormal phenomena, are recorded on Friday 13th than at any other time”.

“Friday 13th is a time where the spirit world and the physical world get just that little bit closer together...”

Mr Phillips said that some of the most interesting legends around Friday the thirteenth include:

· If 13 people sit down to dinner together, one will die within the year.

· The Turks dislike the number 13 so much, that it was practically removed from their vocabulary

· Many cities that use numbers as street names, in Europe and the U.S, do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue.

· Many buildings don't have a 13th floor.

· If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names).

· There are 13 witches in a coven.

Mr Phillips runs SydneyGhostTour.com, and said people who go on his Friday the Thirteenth tours are often amazed by what they see.

”People who came on our last Friday 13th tour took some really interesting photos, both at the haunted mansion we visit, and later in the cemetery.”

“They tell me that they will never forget it!”

This Friday 13th of January, Daniel Phillips of SydneyGhostTour.Com is running tours of a cursed aboriginal site, a Victorian era haunted mansion, and a historic cemetery ( the oldest on the north shore) complete with resident ghosts.

His “Friday 13th Ghost tours start at 6.15pm for the family friendly tour, with adults only tours at 8.15pm and 11.15pm, at the entrance of Stocklands Mall Cammeray Square, on the corner of Miller Street and Amherst Streets in Cammeray.